OVERALL Flashcards
Collective Action Problem
A situation in which people would be better off if they all cooperated; however, any individual has an incentive not to cooperate as long as others are cooperating.
Prionser’s Dilemma
An interaction between two strategic actors in which neither actor has an incentive to cooperate even though each of them would be better off if they both cooperated.
Coordination Problem
A situation in which two or more people are all better off if they coordinate on a common course of action, but there is more than one possible course of action to take.
Institution
Rules or sets of rules that determine how people make collective decisions.
Principal-Agent Problem
An instance in which one actor (a principal) contracts another actor (an agent) to act on the principal’s behalf; but the actors may not share the same preferences, and the principal lacks the means to observe all of the agent’s behavior.
Free Riding
Benefitting from a public good while avoiding the costs of contributing to it
Public Good
a benefit provided to a group of people such that each member can enjoy it without necessarily having to pay for it, and one person’s enjoyment of it does not inhibit . others from enjoying the benefit.
Rule of Law
a system in which all people in a society, including government officials, are subject to legal codes that are applied without bias by independent courts.
Articles of Confederation
The constitution drafted by the Second Continental Congress in 1777 and ratified by the states in 1781. It set up a weak central government consisting of a congress with limited legislative power and virtually no authority over the execution of its laws.
Virginia plan vs. New Jersey plan
Virginia: A plan proposed at the Constitutional Convention by Edmund Randolph of Virginia outlining a stronger national government with an independent executive and bicameral legislature whose membership in both houses would be apportioned according to state population.
New Jersey: A plan proposed at the Constitutional Convention by William Paterson of New Jersey to amend, rather than replace, the standing articles of Confederation. The plan called for a unicameral legislature with equal representation among the states, along with a plural (multi-person) executive appointed by the legislature.
Connecticut Compromise
An agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention to establish a bicameral legislature with an upper house (the Senate) composed of equal representation from each state and a lower house (the House of Representatives) composed of representation from each state in proportion to its population.
Connecticut Compromise
An agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention to establish a bicameral legislature with an upper house (the Senate) composed of equal representation from each state and a lower house (the House of Representatives) composed of representation from each state in proportion to its population.
Bicameralism
a legislature consisting of two chambers or houses.
“Electoral college”
The electors appointed by each state to vote for the president.
Based on size of house + senators for each state.
Necessary and proper clause (aka elastic clause)
The provision in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution stating that Congress can make whatever laws are “necessary and proper” to provide the means to carry out its enumerated powers.
